–Water resources minister says company owned by PM’s adviser was given dam’s construction contract on merit
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda on Thursday discarded Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) demand to cancel the Mohmand Dam contract.
The opposition parties had demanded that the contract is cancelled following the confirmation that the contract of Rs309 billion Mohmand Dam’s construction is given to Adviser to PM on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood’s company Descon and Chinese company Gezhouba.
Rejecting the demand, the federal minister for water said, “The elements demanding that the contract be cancelled are conspiring against the construction of dams and therefore hindering the progress of the country.”
“I will foil every conspiracy,” he asserted.
“Dams are essential for the country and I will not back off from their construction,” he stressed.
Vawda further said, “The entire process of awarding the contract was based on merit. If anyone wants to investigate the process then they can go ahead.”
Reiterating that he “will not back off from the construction of the dam at any cost”, the federal minister for water said, “We are not those who work for commission.”
“We are not even those who buy Avenfield apartments or make sugar mills while sitting at home,” he added.
Earlier, while talking on a political show, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mian Javed Latif was sceptical with regard to the transparency of the process and said that “is it not corruption [to award a contract to your aide]”?
PPP had also demanded that the contract is cancelled as leader Farhatullah Babar had questioned whether other companies were rejected from participating in bid to favour a special company.
Following this, Abdul Razak Dawood issued a clarification on this and said that he had resigned from all posts in his companies before becoming part of the cabinet.
“There is no clash of interest in Mohmand Dam contract award. I had filed the tender for the bid before I was appointed PM’s aide” he added.